New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource & Development has a proposal to impart education through e-Classes and e-books for the college students.

About 93,000 e-Books for the college students are already available under National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) Programme. However, education through e-Classes under a programme called Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) is likely to begin around August this year and it shall make available ‘On Line Courses’ called ‘MOOCs’ for students from class 9-12, Under Graduate and Post Graduate classes in all the disciplines.

This information was given by the Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.

Under the “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Schools”, component of the centrally sponsored scheme Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), ICT enabled teaching and learning is supported in Government and Government aided Secondary and Higher Secondary schools.

Keeping pace with the Digital India initiative, a website called “e-Pathshala”, has been developed by NCERT to disseminate all the NCERT textbooks, audio, video, images, interactive objects etc. The digital contents including e-books from Class I-XII are available on e-Pathshala, National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) and NCERT websites.

The digital contents are available in English, Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit. The stakeholders (students, teachers, educators and parents) can search, access, download and read/use these e-contents through multiple technology platforms i.e. mobile phones, and tablets and on web through laptops and desktops.